Only Obama could appoint someone who insisted to Congress that the Obama budget that he crafted would not add to the debt of the United States in spite of the fact that it never produced an annual deficit lower than $600 billion over 10 years.

Republicans must ask themselves how voters, who constantly hear their campaign promises to cut spending and tackle the out-of-control government debt, will react when they cannot even enforce the sequester cuts that they voted for.

On Tuesday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed suit to force the Treasury Department to release more than 7,300 emails that discuss a new “carbon tax” Obama administration allies in Congress are expected to propose in the upcoming lame duck session.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeks emails on official government accounts that CEI had requested under the Freedom of Information Act. Treasury has said nothing about this topic publicly, but the existence of such extensive email traffic likely reflects extensive discussions between Treasury officials, outside pressure groups and other special interests groups.

The administration has refused to issue one of its relatively common fee waivers for the documents. It cited the cost of photocopying 7,000-plus emails and claimed disclosure “would not significantly inform the public about operations or activities of government.” > Read more about the lawsuit

CEI filed lawsuits this week against the Environmental Protection Agency and the Treasury Department to stop the Obama Administration's stonewalling of Freedom of Information Act requests. Read more about the lawsuits in the press releases and news articles below.

The EPA has been stonewalling a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Competitive Enterprise Institute since 2010. Since the EPA has no intention to comply with the law, CEI has sued the EPA in a case that could set a major precedent in government transparency. Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman explains how agency officials have been using private email accounts to conduct official business, arguing that non-governmental email accounts are exempt from outside scrutiny. CEI argues that basic transparency demands that public information be made public.

Jan. 25, 2012, Fairfax, VA—House Republican Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Americans for Limited Government (ALG) president Bill Wilson joined together today in expressing deep concerns about the failure of President Barack Obama's Treasury Department to comply with even minimal transparency standards in their dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Representative McMorris Rodgers, the sponsor of legislation rescinding a $100 billion credit line that Congress, asserts, "It is simply unacceptable for the Treasury Department to continue to ignore legitimate inquiries about the U.S. participation in the European Union financial crisis. The Secretary's failure to meet the bare minimum standards of transparency makes it all the more urgent that Congress rescind the $100 billion line of credit which the Secretary oversees."

The additional $100 billion dramatically expands the IMF's ability to tap the U.S. taxpayer to bail out nations like Greece and the banks that enabled them to continue their out of control spending policies that have led them to financial ruin.

"Based on publicly available information, we know the U.S. is already bailing out Europe. The question is to what extent, which a proper response to our FOIA request by Treasury would reveal," Wilson explained.

The credit line which has already been tapped for $7.2 billion according to the IMF thus far allows the international organization to draw more than $100 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars without any additional authorization from Congress. The McMorris Rodgers legislation would eliminate the liability.

"If President Obama feels that the U.S. taxpayer should bail out the failed socialist states of Europe, then he needs to come to Congress and request the funds," McMorris Rodgers added.

Wilson concluded, "Any member of Congress who fails to put this legislation on President Obama's desk is choosing to use taxpayer money to bail out Europe and the banks that lent these out of control governments the money to continue their spending binge. No one will be able to hide from this fact, and the public is going to be outraged."

The McMorris Rodgers bill currently has 90 co-sponsors and is pending in the House Financial Services Committee.